Wide Field of View Imaging System Based on Adaptive Lens With Controllable Aperture Location

Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Agile Electro-Optical Missile Seeking system (AGEMIS) based on two wide field-of-view (FOV) imager with enhanced aperture. The first imagers will be equipped with Adaptive Lenses with Controllable Aperture Location (ALCAL). The first ALCAL will be mounted in the aperture stop of the wide FOV lens for agile wavefront correction to sharpen the image in the local 20 degrees field where the target has been detected. The second ALCAL, mounted between lens and image plane together with the aperture stop corrector, will provide zooming of the target image. The two agile imagers, equipped with receivers that differ in spectral response, will provide dual color vision for target detection as well as stereo vision. The proposed AGEMIS system with enhanced resolution, zooming capability, dual-color vision, and stereo vision will provide reliable target detection and tracking. The AGEMIS mimics naturally evolved foveal vision. Assuming ALCAL's switching speed of 1 kHz, we can simultaneously track 20 missile targets. In Phase I, POC demonstrated several generations of agile optics prototypes with wavefront correction and zooming capability. In Phase II we will develop, test, and calibrate AGEMIS system to address USAF requirements.